The Intimacy of Death
by simplynia
Summary: Who better to die next to than the one person who's always been right next to you? Damon and Bonnie find out just how intimate their death is. Inspired by 5x22. One Shot. Bamon.


Death is intimate. It's a road you travel all alone. No one else can make that final trip for you. Death is ultimately your own. Bonnie has died more than once; a 'fake' temporary death to fool Klaus, one to bring Elena's soul from the other side before she transitioned, and another when she died bringing Elena's brother, her boyfriend, back from the dead. Damon died once too. Shot by his father in cold blood. But unlike Bonnie he didn't spend an entire summer trapped in purgatory. He arose shortly after and lived for another century, plus some. Among their personal experiences, these two were no strangers to death. They were surrounded by it.

The intimacy of death.

It was a private thing and yet the two of them joined hands and ushered in their final moments together. Their gazes locked on one another as they searched the windows of each other's soul. Both on the same page; both ready to die, and both content with being each other's last company. There was a sense of finality about this death that they both agreed on. This death wasn't like the others for one simple reason. They had each other. He, a centuries-old vampire with a serious god-complex and a bad attitude and she, an 18 year old ex-witch with nothing but a high school diploma and years worth of pain to her name.

In terms of family, she left behind no one. Her father was dead, her mother had since vanished, and her grandmother had too passed on, finding peace at last. She had friends and a boyfriend, but she had to share their grief with the man to her left. As for Damon? He had everything. He had a brother who loved him and a girlfriend who would mourn him forever. Damon had two people that could carry on his memory forever (literally) and Bonnie, she had a boyfriend that would hopefully carry her legacy for as long as he lived. In a sense, Damon would always be immortal but Bonnie, the true hero of this story, would die like every great star; burnt out and long forgotten.

Not unlike most of her life.

But none of that mattered. What mattered now was that he two of them would cease to exist forever, hand in hand. No more pain or sorrow. It was kind of funny actually. The two of them started this road hating each other's guts. Over the years they had a push and pull dynamic and lived to get under one another's skin; and they didn't even do it intentionally. How they went from hating one another to holding each other's hand and staring their impending doom in the face was beyond them but Bonnie found she wouldn't have it any other way. Who else would be better to die with? Had it been any other person in Mystic Falls, she'd be back to worrying more about their well-being than her own. She'd be filled with sorrow and conflicting turmoil rather than embracing the peace she currently felt. She didn't have to worry while standing next to Damon. She wasn't compelled to do everything she could to save his life over her own. Next to him, she was truly at peace and although she couldn't quite understand it, she accepted it.

For Damon, what he felt was alike but different in many ways. Next to Bonnie he too felt at peace; but for another reason. He knew that though he was dying, Elena would be taken care of by someone he trusted more than anyone else; his brother Stefan. He knew that Elena and Stefan would always fall on one another when the other needed to be carried. He didn't worry about that. He also didn't have to worry about Bonnie; yes, him. As much as he ranted and raved about not caring about her, anyone who knew him knew that was a total lie. He spent the majority of this year fighting to bring her back from death. How ironic was it that he now stood on the other side with her about to plunge into a totally different dimension?

It wasn't until Bonnie died did Damon realize what was missing. Gone was the only person who truly knew him no matter how many facades he tried to hide behind. She had an uncanny ability to sort through all of his bullshit and it pissed him off to no end but it was also refreshing. It was nice to have someone around that told him when his shit stunk, even if he wanted to snap her neck for it every ten seconds. She was relentless, and stubborn, and judgy, but with her, there was never any bullshit. He never knew how exhausting it was to keep his guard up all the time until he came around her and was finally able to let his guard down. That's why he couldn't accept the fact that she was dead and he couldn't let her stay dead either. It may have been purely selfish; his reasons for bringing her back, but since meeting her, he couldn't imagine Mystic Falls without Judgy Bonnie Bennett. Honestly, he couldn't imagine a WORLD without her.

Next to her he didn't have to worry about whether she was alive and well because with him, she would always be okay, if he had his way. With him, she wouldn't have to worry about the livelihood of her friends because they weren't the ones over here with her, he was. He took solace in the fact that he gave her peace of mind. Not because she told him, but because of the look on her face when she grabbed his hand and stared into the abyss. He saw the relief on her face; saw the weight lift from her shoulders, and at the same time he felt the same weight lift from his.

Death placed a few things into perspective for him. Like the fact that it had always been down to the two of them. They were the driving forces behind what kept Mystic Falls afloat. The two of them were practically the sole reason why their friends and everyone in that god awful town were still alive and well. It was always them; Damon and Bonnie, the impulsive vampire and 'his' witch, as everyone puts it. In the years since they crossed paths, the two of them came up with flawless schemes to save the town and they always; always, came out on top, even if they shouldered most of the burdens and consequences in the end.

It was them who stopped the tomb vampires from killing the founding families' descendants. It was them who came up with the plan to stop Klaus from killing Elena in the sacrifice. It was them who stopped Immortal!Alaric and desecrated Klaus; them who stopped Silas (even if it was short lived). Not to mention the smaller victories in between in which they both acted individually and still came out on top.

Who better to die next to than the one person who's always been right next to you?

It was why anyone who truly knew him knew that he didn't just bring anyone back from the dead. It was why anyone who knew him knew that Bonnie's death affected him more than he let on. Because behind the smiles and smart quips, he was lost; he was lost without his judgy little sidekick. No one else was competent enough to do what they did best and even if they were, it wasn't the same. They didn't achieve the same earth shattering results their plans yielded.

That's why he had to have her back. Right here beside him. Where she belonged.

Because really, where else would she be?

Nowhere other than standing on the edge of existence, simply **being** with him, Damon Salvatore, until their very last breath.

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**A/N: I just needed to do a one shot and this flowed right on out of me lol. I'd love to turn this in to a multi-chapter fic but I really don't need to because I can't seem to update the stories I have now lol. But this flowed so naturally. Ugh. I need to stop this anyway. If I'm convinced, I'll see what I can do. Review please and let me know what you think. Or don't review and leave me to my musings. Choice is yours lol.**


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